Stocking and method of making the same



June 24, 1952 PAGE 2,601,451

STOCKING AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed Sept. 22, 1948 nu j land} bi F 5 0 0 3 3! JNVENTOR. FRANK R. PA GE dds/q ATTURNE S Patented June 24, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE STOCKING AND OF MAKING THE Franklt. Page, Lac'onia, N. 11., assignor to Scott & Williams, Incorporated, Laconiaj, N. .H., a corporation'of Massachusetts Application September 22; 1948, SerialNi)."5015M 7-Claims. 1

This invention relates to stockings, particularly to ladies sheer hosiery 'kni't from nylon, to a method of making the same, and to the yarn used in such method.

In the knitting of sheer nylon stockings there arise certain difficulties which are peculiar to this art. First, in knitting nylon on 'finegauge machines, such as 400 circular machines, slight deviations of the elements, such as needles and sinkers immediately concerned with the stitch format-ion, due to wear or any imperfections will produce noticeable streaks or shadows in the stocking when it is worn and it is extremely difficult to avoid these entirely.

Secondly, when the desirable monofilament nylon type of yarn is used weights of the order of 10 to denierthe resulting plain knit stockings exhibit a sheen which most. wearers dislike.

Various suggestions have been offered and various types of stockings have seen marketed which are free of the aforementioned streaks or shadows and which have a reduced sheen since they are rendered either run-proof or runresistant by the adoption of other than plain knit structure, for example, through the use of tuck stitches or draw stitches and floats sometimes involving the knitting of the stocking leg and instep of two yarns, of which one may be plain knit while the other is involved in special stitches. To the great majority of wearersthese stockings are unacceptahle'for general use; some women will wear stockings having well defined mesh structure on particular occasions but on other occasions which normally call for sheer plain stockings they will not tolerate the appearance of a slight pattern which, though scarcely noticeable, does reveal a stocking to be other than a plain knit one.

- One object of the presentinvent'ion is to provide a stocking which, though plain knit, has an irregular stitch structure which successfully avoids the appearance of vertical streaks or shadows. Stockings which are provided in accordance with the. invention when examined closely have a crepe-like appearance; but when worn this crep'e like' appearance" is substantially invisible while nevertheless the structure which gives rise to it prevents-any appearance .ofrregular structural defects which show upxas streaks.

Also, while the crepe-like appearance is unnoticeable the irregularityrof the stitches breaks up the reflection of light to such an extentuthat sheen is not apparent even when the yarn used is of monofllamentztypel.

As will :become evident hereafter the irregularity of the: stitches is due to the fact that they are knit from crinkled yarn.

The foregoing discussion has particular reference to the leg and instep of a stocking. The invention, however, also has advantages when applied to theknitting of the welt. The welt of a stocking generally s'hows up defects in stitch formation more than'the leg and the purchaser, noticing "irregularities, is likely to regard the stockings as of inferior quality. .3 7 the application of the invention to the formation of the welt, the welt is given an overall crepe-like appearance so that local irregularities of stitches are not apparent as they would be in the case of a plain knit welt. Furthermore, the welt has an apparent softness of stretch and clings better to the leg, the result being apparently due to the breaking up of the wales in such fashion as to minimize the susceptibility of the welt to sliding downwardly on the leg;

In accordance with the invention nylon yarn is crinkled and set by the application of heat in this crinkled condition. As will be pointed out hereafter, the .crinkling has. a frequency which is of the same general order as the frequency of recurrence of the stitches in the knitting of the stocking though, as will be pointed out, it is not desirable to have the same frequencies in the two cases. The crinkled yarnis knit in conventional fashion to form plain stitches though, of course, special stitches may be incorporated, as pointed out hereafter. Finally the knitted stocking is boarded at an elevated temperature in the usual fashion. Theimprovedstructure may be embodied in either the welt or leg or both.

Various objects of the invention will be .apparent from the foregoing, these objects having to do with the attainment of the desirable ends indicated. These and otherobjects of the invention particularly relating to details of procedure and construction will become apparent frointhe following description read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure 1 is an-elevationillustrating theparts of. a stocking manufactured in accordance with the invention;

Figure 2.15 a tracing. from a microphotograph of the leg portion of a stocking formed in accordance with the invention illustrating. the nature of the stitches giving rise to the desirable results indicated above;

Figure 3 is a similar tracing from the leg of a stockingprovided-in-accordaneewith the ,in-

vention but under different conditions of formations; and

Figure 4 is a similar tracing, illustrated for purposes of comparison and description, showing the portion of the leg of a conventionally knit stocking.

The parts of the stocking provided in accordance with the invention are conventional and for purposes of illustration the stocking is shown as comprising a leg portion 2, an instep portion 4, a sole portion 6, a heel 8, a toe l and a welt I2. As will appear, the stocking may have all of these elements of special types known to the art, the invention primarily relating to the fabrics which appear. in some of the areas indicated.

In carrying out the invention the crimping or crinkling of the nylon yarn, which may be of monofilament or multifilament type, may be accomplished in various ways.

Most elaborately, but with excellent results, this may be effected by actually knitting the nylon yarn on 'a conventional machine to form a tube which, as one end is being formed, is unravelledat the other end to provide the crinkled yarn. This tube may be subjected to heating, during the period'of its existence as a tube and its lengthwise movement from the point of knitting to the point of ravelling, to a temperature corresponding to that ordinarily used in the boarding of nylon stockings, for example a temperature of the order of 225 F. to 250 F. Cooling belowthe temperature of softening of the yarn should occur before ravelling or at any rate before such application of tension after ravelling as would straighten out the yarn and remove the crinkles. Under these circumstances it will be found that the resulting unravelled yarn will be crinkled in a fashion corresponding to that secured upon the ravelling of a conventional nylon stocking which has been subjected to conventional boarding operations.

The crimping or crinkling, however, may be effected in other fashions without actually producing formation of a knitting tube. For example, by running the yarn between intermeshing elements providing teeth, or elements providing a circular series of pins between which the yarn is forced by radially movable elements somewhat similar to sinkers, the crimped or crinkled condition may be obtained almost instantaneously if the elements which engage the yarn are heated to temperatures sunicient to set the yarn material. If the rapidity of the movement of the yarn through the device is sufficiently high quite high temperatures may be used which the nylon yarn could not tolerate under conditions of prolonged subjection thereto. In this case also the yarn should not be subjected to tension sufficient to straighten it until cooled below its softening point.

The crimped or crinkled yarn produced in accordance with the foregoing procedures is knit under conventional tensions in conventional machines.

Reference to Figure 2 will serve to illustrate characteristics of the fabric thus produced. The fabric here illustrated, forming the leg of a stocking, was knit of 15 denier monofilament nylon on a 400 needle circular machine. The yarn in this case was originally knit into a tube which was subjected to a shrinking or setting action at 225 F. The knitting of this tube was also carried out on a 400 needle machine with such control of stitch length that the tube could be stretched to a circumference of 16 inches.

This circumference is considerably less than the circumference to which there could be stretched the narrowest (ankle) portion of the stocking knit from the crinkled yarn. The final stocking was boarded and set at an elevated temperature in conventional fashion.

By tracing the stitches in Figure 2. it will be noted that plain knitting only is involved. However, the loops are highly irregular ranging in size from such large loops as indicated at M to quite small loops as indicated at IS. The crinkled condiiton of the yarn, furthermore, tends to throw the loops, for example as indicated at l8, out of walewise alignment, this being due to the crimping or crinkling which also shows up in the fabric as residual multiple curvature, for example as indicated at 20 in the knitted yarn where ordinary yarn would ordinarily exhibit only smooth curvature in one direction. The stocking-leg illustrated in Figure 2 has, on close observation, a crepe-like appearance but on the leg this stocking appears just as sheer as a stocking correspondingly knitted on a 400 needle machine from plain monofilament yarn of corresponding denier. The crepelike appearance, furthermore, is substantially invisible when the stocking is worn, the only evidence of difference in appearance, aside from the complete absence of streaks or shadows, being in the absence of sheen.

For comparison with Figure 2 reference may be made to Figure 4 which is a tracing on the same scale as Figure 2 of a microphotograph of a stocking knit from uncrimped monofilament nylon yarn of the same denier as that used in knitting the stocking of Figure 2, the two stockings having both been knitted on a 400 needle machine. The regularity of the stitches along each Wale in Figure 4 gives rise to the sheen which has been mentioned and the slight differences between the loop sizes in wales such as 28 and 30 gives rise to the appearance of vertical streaks. While the differences in the stitches in these two wales are quite small and are substantially unavoidable in the knitting operation without the exercise of extreme care, quite noticeable streaks are produced, particularly when groups of adjacent wales which have ab normally small loops or abnormally large loops occur.

Figure 2 represents a maximum condition of irregularity resulting from the practice of the invention. Figure 3, illustrated for comparison, shows a lesser degree of patterning resulting from a variation in preliminary treatment of the yarn though the knitting was effected on the same machine as that which knit the fabric of Figure 2 and the yarn was monofilament nylon of the same denier, the stocking being boarded and set at conventional elevated temperature in the usual fashion. In this case the tube which was knit, set and then ravelled to provide the yarn had stitch lengths such that the tube stretched to. a 30 inch circumference. The stocking represented by Figure 3 is also highly satisfactory since the degree of irregularity of the loops is such as to hide any appearance of vertical streaks and also to suppress the sheen. It will be noted that in the case of Figure 3, as well as in the case of Figure 2, loops of quite different sizes are produced as indicated at 22 and 24 and that lateral displacements of the loops occur as indicated, for example, at 24 and 2B.

The desired irregularity of the. stitches may be achieved if the frequency of recurrence of. the crimps or crinkles is, either substantially greater than or substantially less than the frequency of recurrence of the stitches along the yarn in the final knitting. It is to be noted, that the frequency of recurrence of stitches along a course may be substantially different in, the ankle as contrasted with the calf since in order to, provide better fitting the tension or stitch length during knitting is varied along the length of the stocking. What is to be avoided is a substantial correspondence between the frequency of recurrence of the crimps and the frequency. of recurrence of the final knitted loops in any areav of the stocking since otherwise the two frequencies will tend to fall in phase in certain areas and out of phase in others giving rise not to the desired irregular patterns but rather to repeating, more regular, patterns somewhat analogous to those appearing in stroboscopic observations and for quite similar reasons: in. certain areas of inphase conditions fabric areas may be knitted which have essentially the appearance of areas such as illustrated in Figure 4 while between these areas other areas may show up in which the stitches may be as irregular as illustrated in Figure 2. Two such areas will exhbit, when the stocking is off the leg, quite contrasting appearances. Since the leg and instep of a stocking should exhibit the same appearance this condition of avoidance of in-phase correspondence of crinkles and final loops should be applied to all parts of the leg and instep areas.

While Figures 2, 3 and 4 are derived from the leg and instep portionsof stockings similar conditions occur in welts which are generally knit from heavier yarn. In the case of welts there are secured by the application of the invention not only the improved appearance hiding defects which might otherwise appear, and which are generally rather prominent in the welt, but there is additionally secured a soft stretch condition and an improved clinging of the welt to the leg. The condition of softness of the stretch is apparently due to the fact that the stretch does not only occur due to elasticity of the yarn and distortion of stitches as in the case of welts which are conventionally knit but also to the straightening out of the irregularities in the yarn itself. For example, it will be evident from considering the short length of yarn at 20 in Figure 2 that there is involved a slight elasticity merely due to pulling this straight. The clinging effect on the leg is probably due to the fact that the loops in the wales do not run in straight vertical lines but by zigzagging, and by reason of their irregularities tend to involve more frictional clinging to the skin. In the case of formation of welts the same considerations are taken into account as in the formation of legs, i. e., the frequency of recurrence of the crinkles in the yarn should be substantially different from the frequency of recurrence along the line of the loops in the final knitting since otherwise repeating and objectionable large area patterns may appear.

Stockings knit from crinkled yarn as above set forth are boarded and set at elevated temperatures in conventional fashion. When this is done the crinkles set in the yarn are not eliminated but remain permanently in the finished stocking.

While the invention has special utility in application to the knitting of monofilament nylon yarn since it serves to suppress the sheen which the use of monofilament yarn normally imparts to a stocking, it will be evident that from the standpoint of suppressing the appearance of streaks and shadows the invention is equally applicable to multifilament nylon yarn.

It will be understood that the term nylon is herein used in an illustrative rather than a limitedsense since the invention would be generally applicable to yarns formed of synthetic polymers or the like which, upon the application of heat, become softened so as to be capable of taking a permanent set including the crinkling herein specifically referred to. The term nylon refers to commercial yarn comprising one of the usual synthetic long chain. polymers having recurring amide groups in its chain. As will be evident, the invention isapplicable to other yarns having similar physical properties.

Ashas been indicated heretofore, the invention may be applied to other than plain knit portions of fabric. Plain knit fabric provided in accordance with the invention exhibits somewhat more resistance to run than ordinary plain knit fabrics but this resistance is not particularly pronounced and the, application of tension to the fabric will usually cause a continuation of a run. However, the invention may be applied to the knitting of. fabrics which are run-resistant such as, for example, the fabric disclosed in the application of Albert E. Page, Serial Number 12,400, filed March 1, 1948, now Patent No. 2,501,353, which, by virtue of a proper recurrence of tuck stitches is substantially proof against runs in a downward direction The fabric of said application may be knitted with permanently crinkled yarn for the production of stockings of highly satisfactory type. It will, of course, be evident that the invention is also applicable to the knitting of stockings of other special patterns and, in fact, where a pattern would normally be visible if a plain yarn was knit the pattern may be rendered substantially invisible through the use of a crinkled yarn in accordance with the invention. Thus so-call ed mesh fabrics will lose, to a substantial extent, their mesh appearance while at the same time retain- K ing advantageous properties such as quite high resistance to the formation of runs.

What I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. The method of producing a sheer stocking including knitting a nylon yarn to form a tube, subjecting said tube to heat sufficient to impart a set to the yarn providing permanent crinkles corresponding to the loops of the knitted tube, ravelling said tube, and knitting from said permanently crinkled yarn an area of said stocking.

2. The method of producing a sheer stocking including knitting a nylon yarn to form a tube, subjecting said tube to heat sufiicient to impart a set to the yarn providing. permanent crinkles corresponding to the loops of the knitted tube, ravelling said tube, knitting from said permanently crinkled yarn an area of said stocking, and subjecting said stocking to boarding to set the stitches thereof.

3. The method of producing a sheer stocking having an area thereof characterized by the presence of loops of different sizes and shapes and of random distribution including knitting a nylon yarn to form a tube, subjecting said tube to heat sufficient to impart a set to the yarn providing permanent crinkles corresponding to the loops of the knitted tube, ravelling said tube, and knitting from said permanently crinkled yarn said area of said stocking, the knitting of the tube and the knitting of the stocking being so related that the frequency of recurrence of said permanent crinkles of the yarn along a course is different from the frequency of recurrence of loops along a corresponding part of a course throughout said area of the stocking.

4. The method of producing a sheer stocking having an area thereof characterized by the presence of loops of different sizes and shapes and of random distribution including knitting a nylon yarn to form a tube, subjecting said tube to heat suflicient to impart a set to the yarn providing permanent crinkles corresponding to the loops of the knitted tube, ravelling said tube, knitting from said permanently crinkled yarn said area of said stocking, the knitting of the tube and the knitting of the stocking being so related that the frequency of recurrence of said permanent crinkles of the yarn along a course is difierent from the frequency of recurrence of loops along a corresponding part of a course throughout said area of the stocking, and subjecting said stocking to boarding to set the stitches thereof.

5. A sheer knitted stocking having an area thereof of crepe appearance characterized by the presence of loops of different sizes and shapes and of random distribution resulting from its being knitted from a filament yarn having permanent crinkles therein, the frequency of recurrence of said permanent crinkles of the yarn along a course being different from the frequency of recurrence of loops along a corresponding part of a course throughout said area.

6. A sheer knitted stocking having an area thereof of crepe appearance characterized by the presence of ,loops of different sizes and shapes and of random distribution resulting from its being knitted from a nylon filament yarn having permanent crinkles therein, the frequency of recurrence of said permanent crinkles of the yarn along a course being different from the frequency of recurrence of loops along a corresponding part of a course throughout said area.

7. A sheer knitted stocking having an area thereof of crepe appearance characterized by the presence of loops of difierent sizes and shapes and of random distribution resulting from its being knitted from a monofilament nylon yarn having permanent crinkles therein, the frequency of recurrence of said permanent crinkles of the yarn along a course being different from the frequency of recurrence of loops along a corresponding part of a course throughout said area.

FRANK R. PAGE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,157,117 Miles, Jr. May 9, 1939 2,157,119 Miles, Jr. May 9, 1939 2,174,878 Hardy Oct. 3, 1939 2,197,896 Miles, Jr. Apr. 23, 1940 2,251,263 Clawson Aug. 5, 1941 2,287,099 Hardy et a1. June 23, 1942 2,295,593 Miles, Jr. Sept. 15, 1942 2,392,842 Doell Jan. 15, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 396,219 Great Britain Aug. 3, 1933 

